If the executive producer of "Studs" is right, America is in for a very rough decade.
"This is the relationship show for the '90s," Howard Schultz said.If that's true, then relationships are going to be crude, disgusting and childish.
Schultz and the show's host, Mark DeCarlo, insist it's all in fun. That they're not trying to offend anyone.
But anyone who's seen the show (which airs locally weeknights at 10:35 p.m. on Ch. 13) knows it's full of statements that range from suggestive to outright lewd.
For those of you who haven't seen "Studs," it's loosely (no pun intended) a game show along the lines of "The Love Connection." There are two guys (the studs) who each date three girls. Then the girls are interviewed about the dates so the guys can guess who said what - which is where most of the lewd statements come from.
Are we to believe these girls volunteer these disgusting comments (many of which can't be reprinted in a family newspaper) on their own? Well, not quite.
In the course of the interviews, "We fish," Schultz said. "We lead them along, trying to get those kinds of answers. We throw kerosene on the fire."
Uh huh. How nice.
DeCarlo's reaction to complaints about the show is to denigrate those doing the complaining.
"The double-entendres are there for people who are hip enough to get them," he said. "We're looking for a hip audience."
A couple of points here. First, no hipness at all is required to "get" the double entendres. They're grotesquely obvious.
And, second, how pompous and obnoxious to appoint oneself the arbiter of "hipness," as it were.
"We want to go up to the line," Schultz said. "We're not out to offend anyone, we're trying to entertain them."
While the show can be entertaining, it crosses way over the line.UNBELIEVABLE: In response to one critic's question, both the executive producer and the host of "Studs" vehemently denied that the show promotes promiscuity.
However, DeCarlo had said earlier that he estimates that 20 percent of the contestants, uh, became more than extremely close on their dates.
Now, that's quite an accomplishment for a television show to be proud of in these days when AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases are becoming an increasing problem.HUH?: Saying that "Studs" is only nominally a game show is a bit of an understatement. It's not easy to figure out exactly what the rules are.
"The game show aspect of this is really immaterial," Schultz said. "The people are just there to have fun."
Apparently, he can't quite figure the rules out either.QUOTABLE: DeCarlo, talking about who can be a contestant on "Studs":
"We're the Noah's ark of TV shows. We'll take two of anybody."
Of course, with a bit of prodding he admitted the show would take two of anybody as long as they were reasonably attractive.